Porcupines May Be the Cutest Rodents

With 29 different species, porcupines can range hugely in both shape and quill length. It’s hard to believe these strange animals are related to rats. AnimalWonders explains why porcupines are actually rodents.

Video Summary

The thorny animal in this video is a prehensile tailed porcupine known as a coendou. This type of porcupine lives in Brazilian forests. Porcupines are large rodents, which are very different from lagomorphs (e.g., a rabbit). Lagomorphs have four top incisors in contrast to the tooth structure of rodents, which have two incisors on the top and two on the bottom. This porcupine is treated medically like a giant rat.